History of Ceylon Tea
Certain characteristics have determined the way in which the production of tea has developed on the Island. These aspects have included not only the extremes of climate but also the physical nature of the countryside. Here is a breakdown of some of those influences.
Climate & Geography
| Climate: N.B. S/West rains April-June | ||
|---|---|---|
| Monsoons: | South/West (heavy) | April to June/July |
| North/East (light) | October/December | |
| Temperatures: | near sea level | 80°F can be very humid |
| Nuwara Eliya | 59°F Sometimes frost at night | |
| Geography | ||
| Travelling Colombo | - Kandy | Approx 70 miles rises 1,687 feet |
| Colombo | - Nuwara Eliya | Approx 118 miles rises 6,230 feet |
| Length of island | 270 Miles | |
| Width of island | 140 Miles. Average 100 miles | |
| Total island area | 25,332 sq miles | |
| Area of central mountains | 4,212 sq miles | |
| Highest mountain | Piduruthalagala | 8,292 ft. Often known as Pedro |
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For some 48 miles from Colombo the road travels through fairly undulating countryside having started at sea level and rising in that distance to no more than 650 feet. From either the Mawanella road or the Avissawella road, the road then suddenly climbs into the mountains via passes and in the next 20 miles the road rises some 900 to 1,000 feet arriving at Kandy. The road from Kandy to Hatton and Maskeliya takes the traveller up on through hilly country rising to 4,000 and then 5,000 feet in some 45 miles. Or on the Rambodda pass road to Nuwara Eliya, 45 miles takes us to the town which lies on a plateau at 6,000 feet. Anywhere South of Kandy in the mountains means climbing roads.
The early development of this island was one reliant on agriculture. Early chronicles relate to the coming of an early civilization over 2,500 – 3,000 years ago, which settled in the North and Eastern sector of the country, a relatively low lying area, that is the dry zone. In order to establish the major city of that time, it was necessary to construct some amazing feats of engineering in cutting canals to divert the great Mahaweli river that rises in the central tea hills at the area called the Horton Plains which happens to be the source for all the larger rivers and the Mahaweli then meanders North East exiting near Trincomalee harbour.
This complex society was based on a line of 181 kings, who used Tamil mercenaries to protect them from Tamil incursions, invading from India but which eventually weakened them and drove them successively South and finally to their final stand in the Kandyan hills. It is interesting to note that the first Tamil king appeared in 180 BC and that the last King who surrendered the Kandyan kingdom to the British in 1815 was of mixed Tamil and Sinhalese descent.
The Portuguese came seeking the world famous spices, particularly Cinnamon in 1505. They were replaced by the Dutch in 1658 at the invitation of the King to replace increasing demands of the Portuguese and finally the British in 1796 again at the invitation of the King to rid him of his grasping occupiers.
The Birth of Tea
Tea is usually stated to have been discovered as a drink by the Chinese. When, is not certain but there is a story that would place it back some 3,000 years B.C. They have always maintained that it was a health-supporting drink. Today scientific studies indicate that tea does indeed have many health supporting properties.
Tea or Camellia Sinensis is classified in planting (farming) terms into two main Jats (types):
Doteloya Factory converted by the family from coffee to tea and today hugely successful with a large area of original rain forest still preserved as an important wildlife habitat.
Picture above is of the old Pen-Y-Lan bungalow with the hills where the coffee fungus was detected by Gardiner.
Coffee Era
With the coming of the British in the early 1800's came the establishment of coffee plantations as the crop to finance the development of the island. One of Robert Wilson's ancestors arrived in the island with the Royal Artillery in 1807 at the time that the British replaced the Dutch and initially most of the army was based in Colombo.
James Taylor was probably the first person to plant a commercial area of tea and crop it. He planted No.7 field in Loolecondera estate with seed in 1867, some 19 acres in extent. He was a manager at the time earning £8-6-8d per month. He was a huge man over 6 feet and 17.5 stones in weight.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: "Those were the royal days of coffee planting in Ceylon, before a single season and a rotting fungus drove a whole community through years of despair to one of the greatest commercial victories which pluck and ingenuity ever won. Not often is it that men have heart when their one great industry is withered, to rear up in a few years another as rich to take its place, and the tea fields of Ceylon are as true a monument to courage as is the lion at Waterloo."